Starting Five: Nets keeping it simple

Ohm Youngmisuk has covered the Giants, Jets and the NFL since 2006. Prior to that, he covered the Nets, Knicks and the NBA for nearly a decade. He joined ESPNNewYork.com after working at the New York Daily News for almost 12 years and is a graduate of Michigan State University.
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He probably doesn't want to jinx anything by saying the Nets may have turned the corner. But the Nets have won four out of their last five games and perhaps things are starting to turn around.

"I don't want to jump the gun," Garnett said of the Nets perhaps finally finding a rhythm. "Right now, we are taking it one game at a time but understanding that we need to make up some ground. More important, trying to get better as a team overall. Every day we work on something to be better. Things have been simplified and that's good."

Garnett has mentioned the word "simplified" quite a bit in the last few weeks. He credits Jason Kidd and the coaching staff with simplifying the defensive schemes and the team's improvement in communication on the court with helping the Nets play much better.

In their last four wins over the Sixers, Clippers, Celtics and Bucks, the Nets have not allowed their opponents to score 100 points. Getting Deron Williams back has helped tremendously in the last four games. And the Nets have taken advantage of the competition as well. The Sixers, Celtics and Bucks have a combined 24-52 record. And the Nets got to play the Clippers (16-9) when they were playing for the third time in four days and for the sixth straight time on the road.

Still, the Nets look so much better than they had two weeks ago, no matter who they are playing against.

"We put ourselves in this position," Garnett said of the Nets (9-15). "But we are willing to work our way out of it. Obviously the emergence of having Deron back has been a big plus for us and getting Brook back will be another big plus in trying to put all this together.

"More importantly, things have been simplified for the best and the better and we believe in it," Garnett added. "Jason has a lot of belief in us that we will carry out the plan and we have been doing just that."